PUTSTEAMINTO YOUR EFFORTS

Steam Systems eHANDBOOK

TABLE OF CONTENTSEnergy Efficiency Soars 4

Broad-ranging efforts are providing substantial savings

Provide Better Protection from Hot Pipes 11

Use more conservative limits for insulation skin temperature

Keep Cool Designing Heat Exchanger Piping 15

Consider these points when working with exchangers, coils and jackets

Additional Resources 17

Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 2

www.ChemicalProcessing.com

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The drive by some chemical compa-

nies to improve energy efficiency

extends well beyond their pro-

duction processes. For instance, Eastman

Chemicals, BASF, AkzoNobel and Dow are

working hard to find energy savings in all

aspects of corporate life.

One of the main efforts of Kingsport, Tenn.-

based Eastman Chemicals focuses on

reliable supply of high-pressure steam for

powering several large compressors for the

cracker at the company’s Longview, Texas,

plant. The steam comes from either an

on-site cogeneration facility or less efficient

boilers within the cracker operation itself.

The reliability problem was highlighted one

night last year when the limited turndown

of the cogeneration facility forced the shut-

down of one of its two combustion turbines.

This reduced the reliability of the high-pres-

sure steam supply, causing the cracker to

produce the steam using its own boilers.

To solve this problem, the company has

installed novel burner technology in the

two cogeneration combustion turbines. This

greatly increases their turndown, allowing

both to remain online at all times.

“This improved steam reliability to the

point that high-pressure steam production

could be shifted from the cracker to the

cogeneration plant. The two units worked

together to reduce the cracker boilers use

and increase the steam from the cogenera-

tion plant. Controls were installed to control

the steam header pressure while minimiz-

ing steam produced by the boilers. In all,

the project will save 156,000 MMBTU/y,”

Energy Efficiency SoarsBroad-ranging efforts are providing substantial savings

By Seán Ottewell, Editor at Large

Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 4

www.ChemicalProcessing.com

explains Sharon Nolen, Eastman’s manager,

global natural resources management.

Since 2012, Eastman has been collaborating

with Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.,

and the Process Science and Technology

Center at the University of Texas, Austin,

in an ongoing effort to improve the energy

efficiency of its energy-intensive distillation

units using dividing-wall column technolo-

gies. To date, Eastman has committed over

$1.5 million in funding to the project.

“Distillation accounts for roughly 40% of

all energy consumed by industrial chemical

processes. Our efforts thus far have shown

that new distillation schemes/technology

can reduce the energy consumption by

up to 50% and the capital investment by

over 30%,” notes Scott Owens, Eastman’s

scale-up project leader.

The academic collaborators currently are

evaluating system selection, column design/

construction, process simulation and opera-

tion/control of new distillation technology.

“This work gave us a significant jumpstart

on our internal efforts to add or upgrade

experimental facilities and understand and

apply the new technologies to our own

proprietary processes. We have already

identified several processes which would

see large financial benefits from retrofitting

to a more-advanced distillation technology.

In many cases, the process would enable

reduced energy intensity and line expansion

with minimal capital investment,” he adds.

The company also is tackling non-pro-

cess-related energy inefficiencies. For

instance, a project to upgrade lighting is

underway at various company sites, build-

ing on ongoing efforts at the Kingsport

headquarters. “The majority of installations

involve replacing less efficient lighting

with LEDs [light-emitting diodes]. Energy

savings for 2016 equate to more than

$390,000,” says Lisa Lambert, Tennessee

site energy coordinator.

BROAD ENERGY CERTIFICATIONFor its part, BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany,

is committed to achieving certification to

the ISO-50001 energy management stan-

dard by 2020 for the sites that account for

90% of its total purchased energy. It also

aims to increase energy efficiency in its

production plants by 35% by the same year

(2002 baseline).

REBORN ASSETFigure 1. Operator collects data at previously idled steam plant that has been converted to fire natural gas instead of coal. Source: BASF.

www.ChemicalProcessing.com

Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 5

In North America, this so far has involved

the implementation of 14 energy efficiency

projects at seven different production sites.

Among these is a project at its Wyandotte,

Mich., complex. In 2014, site management

learned that Wyandotte Municipal Services

would stop providing steam to the site

after 2016. After evaluating nine different

options, the site decided to reactivate a

large steam plant that had stood idle for

more than a decade. Over the next two

years, a project team converted the plant,

which originally was coal-fired, to natural

gas. This involved installing high-efficiency

natural gas burners, a new control system

and water-treatment system, enhancing the

plant’s electrical infrastructure, and hiring a

team of ten employees to run the unit. The

steam plant began operating at the end of

last year (Figure 1).

“The project at our Wyandotte site exem-

plifies our strategic approach to integrate

energy management goals into our efforts

to optimize our processes at BASF,”

stresses Ty Geiger, vice president of energy

management, BASF, Houston. “It is for

these efforts that BASF has been recog-

nized by the American Chemistry Council

for its energy efficiency improvements for

20 consecutive years,” he adds.

Efforts, of course, are taking place world-

wide. For instance, BASF has been

implementing a “triple E” (excellence

in energy efficiency) project at its

Guaratinguetá complex in Brazil where 12

plants with a total capacity of over 260,000

t/y manufacture more than 750 different

products (Figure 2).

One project focused on installing a new

heat exchanger to recover heat from a

sodium methylate product that is used as a

catalyst in biodiesel production. This saved

the company 730 t/y of steam and had a

return on investment (ROI) of 18 months.

Another involved replacing old, largely

sodium and mercury, lamps with 450 LED

lamps. This increased lamp service life

to 80,000 h from 10,000 h and reduced

energy consumption by 75% or 620 MWh/y.

The ROI here was 27 months.

A third project centered on replacing the

water heating system for locker rooms. It

had been consuming 840 t/y of steam to

MULTI-PRONGED EFFORTSFigure 2. Energy efficiency projects at Guaratinguetá, Brazil, site range from pro-cesses to lighting to even locker-room hot water. Source: BASF.

www.ChemicalProcessing.com

Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 6

heat 12,000 m3/y of water. Switching to

solar panels and introducing water flow

reducers resulted in a 2,700 m3/y saving in

water consumption, lower energy consump-

tion and an ROI of 35 months.

With these and other initiatives, BASF has

cut energy consumption by 7.098 MWh/y

at the complex, saving R$ 6.46 million/y

($2.07 million/y) in energy costs and reduc-

ing carbon dioxide emissions by 705 t/y.

RENEWABLE POWER EMPHASISAkzoNobel, Amsterdam, particularly is

focusing its energy efficiency initiatives on

developing renewable power options.

For example, a new contract with Swedish

energy company Vattenfall will enable Akzo-

Nobel to ramp up the supply of renewable

electricity to its facilities in Sweden and Fin-

land. Hydro and wind power already make

up the majority of the electricity supplied by

Vattenfall; the two companies have agreed

to further increase the share of renewable

energy to the facilities to 100% by 2020.

The contract supplies AkzoNobel with 1.25

TWh/y of electricity to power six specialty

chemicals sites and one performance coat-

ings facility. In addition, the agreement

allows the two companies to work together

to balance swings in renewable power

supply on the Swedish national grid.

Meanwhile at its chemical park in Delfzijl,

the Netherlands, AkzoNobel is switching

to sustainable steam use (Figure 3). The

company, along with Eneco and Groningen

Seaports jointly have invested around €40

million ($47 million) in a project to convert

SUSTAINABLE SUPPLYFigure 3. Steam now comes from an existing biomass unit that was converted into a combined heat and power plant. Source: AkzoNobel.

www.ChemicalProcessing.com

Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 7

an existing biomass plant into a combined

heat and power plant. When fully commis-

sioned, the project will help improve the

long-term competitiveness of the Delfzijl

plants and ensure that an additional 10% of

the company’s energy consumption in the

Netherlands comes from renewable sources

— cutting 100,000 t/y of carbon dioxide

emissions in the process.

AkzoNobel also is heading a consortium

that includes Philips, Amsterdam; DSM,

Heerlen, the Netherlands; and Google’s

Amsterdam facility, to purchase green

electricity from two new wind parks at

Bouwdokken and Krammer, both in the

Netherlands (Figure 4). These wind parks

currently supply 140 MW of power; the

consortium members now are investigating

other opportunities for sustainable energy

cooperation and working with banks and

equity investors on novel funding processes

for them.

Further afield, AkzoNobel has integrated

its production facilities in Imperatriz, Brazil,

directly with the neighboring Suzano Mara-

nhão pulp mill. One benefit here is being

able to source energy directly from waste

wood left over after eucalyptus trees

are processed.

“Our pathway to renewable energy means

going beyond the immediate business,

working with others to create a wider

change in society. That’s the pathway we

want to speed up. Partnerships will play

a key role and we are at the forefront of

working together with others to help the

world move towards renewable energy

quicker,” notes AkzoNobel’s corporate

director of sustainability Andre Veneman.

WIND PARKFigure 4. Dutch consortium is purchasing energy from this and another wind park in The Nether-lands. Source: AkzoNobel.

www.ChemicalProcessing.com

Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 8

WATER-BASED SAVINGSFor Dow, Midland, Mich., a major focus is

on developing energy-efficiency-improving

technologies that can be leveraged for use

on multiple sites. Many of these center on

water use.

For example, at its Terneuzen site in the

Netherlands, the company at one point was

using thermally desalinated water to bal-

ance the competing demands of the plant,

agriculture and the neighboring community.

Dow now relies on wastewater recycled

from the local municipality to generate

plant steam and process water and reuses

condensate in cooling towers.

“So successful was the initiative that by

2020 Dow hopes to have expanded [the]

amount we use from 10,000 m3/d to

30,000 m3/d. This 2020 initiative will lower

the energy costs by 95% and has led to the

expansion of other local municipal projects,”

notes Denise Haukkala, technical service

expert, Dow Water & Process Solutions

North America, San Francisco.

One of these is at Dow’s complex in Tar-

ragona, Spain, where the wastewater from

three local cities now is being treated with

a combination of Veolia and Dow Film-

tec technologies.

“It’s led to a very real savings in the eth-

ylene cracker cooling towers. Using up to

40% reused water has reduced blowdown

by 49% and chemical usage by 23%. Using

RO [reverse osmosis] processes means that

the cooling makeup water can be used in

5–10 more cycles, with reduced need for

chemical additives. So it’s a multiplier effect

— adding extra cycles substantially reduces

tower flow demand, together with the need

for scale, corrosion and antimicrobial chem-

ical additives,” she adds.

At Tarragona, Veolia technology serves for

pre-treatment, with the water then going

through Dow extra-fouling-resistant mem-

branes in the system’s first pass and then its

low-energy membranes in the second pass.

The design of the second pass has helped the

plant deliver higher salt rejection at 33% lower

pressure, reducing overall energy usage.

Looking to the future, Haukkala believes

that the next innovations in water-related

energy efficiency are going to come in the

areas of high-temperature RO and nano-

filtration. “How about being able to treat

condensate overhead water or various pro-

cess waste waters at 50–80°C and reuse

that product water back into the process

without adding costly heat exchangers?”

she asks.

www.ChemicalProcessing.com

Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 9

http://www.checkall.com

Burned alive — that was the ghastly

fate of a worker who got trapped

between two hot steam pipes

in the brewery’s sterilizer area. The skin

temperature of the pipe insulation met

company standards at 135°F — yet the man

was dead.

Engineers understand the role of insulation

for heat conservation and freeze protection.

Shielding personnel from burns from hot

hardware also is an important role for insu-

lation. However, this too often doesn’t get

sufficient scrutiny.

Many facilities such as that brewery use

135°F as the temperature target for per-

sonnel protection. Is that really realistic,

though? M. McChesney and P. McChesney

in a 1981 Chemical Engineering article

“Preventing Burns from Insulated Pipe”

instead suggest using 113°F for insula-

tion covered with aluminum jackets (and

a slightly higher temperature for canvas

jackets). This temperature represents the

“threshold of pain” for a person. Beyond

this value, skin damage grows increasingly

numbing so the person doesn’t know how

much damage is occurring.

Heat damage is like frost bite: it creeps

up on you — exposure time is important.

Touching a pipe at 113°F for a couple of

seconds causes minor damage while con-

tacting a 135°F pipe even for only a second

incurs severe damage. ASTM C1057, “Stan-

dard Guide for Heated System Surface

Conditions that Produce Contact Burn

Injuries,” notes that contact with a 140°F

surface must be kept to under five seconds

Provide Better Protection from Hot PipesUse more conservative limits for insulation skin temperature

By Dirk Willard, Contributing Editor

Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 11

www.ChemicalProcessing.com

because longer exposure causes third

degree (also known as full thickness) burns,

i.e., complete and permanent destruction

of the outer layer of skin (epidermis) and

the entire layer beneath (dermis). Longer

exposure times and higher temperatures

are prohibited. In addition, always keep in

mind that damage doesn’t stop as soon

as the person’s skin no longer touches the

hot surface.

What this points up is that if you place an

operator in an area where the only way to

escape requires touching 135°F surfaces

for more than a brief period, you are risk-

ing that person’s life unnecessarily. Instead,

common sense dictates keeping the tem-

perature lower — a maximum of 126°F to

avoid anything more than first degree burns

(pain and reddening of the epidermis) but

ideally below the pain threshold of 113°F.

Always remember, an operator in pain isn’t

thinking clearly.

I suggest designing for a maximum

insulation skin temperature of 110°F.

Unfortunately, though, many engineers

don’t estimate insulation skin tempera-

ture properly.

One common error is not accounting for

the impact of radiation. Years ago, I cor-

rected a professor during a review course

for the professional engineer’s examina-

tion for missing the radiation term. Not

surprisingly, when radiation is taken into

account, the outer jacket affects the skin

temperature: dull surfaces decrease the

skin temperature by restricting radiation

from the jacket; shiny surfaces increase

jacket skin temperature by augmenting

radiation. The emissivity coefficient, , of a

matte canvas jacket is 0.9 versus 0.09 for a

shiny new aluminum jacket; that aluminum

jacket gets duller with age. Black is better

than light colors in reducing the allowable

skin temperature.

The type of jacket is a serious safety

concern. The McChesneys’ article indicated

the heat flux of a shiny new aluminum

jacket is 14× higher than that of an old

canvas jacket. This confirms an everyday

experience that shiny pipe jackets are

hotter than dull ones.

One common problem with most radia-

tion calculations is an inaccurate value of

emissivity. For a 1,100°F steam pipe, the

Always remember, an operator in pain isn’t thinking clearly.

www.ChemicalProcessing.com

Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 12

difference in insulated pipe skin tempera-

ture between a painted canvas jacket and

an aluminum one can amount to 30°F; so,

use a healthy safety factor.

Of course, maintenance lapses can com-

promise the best design. Care of insulation

often doesn’t get adequate attention. Some

facilities only deal with insulation issues

as part of their annual maintenance while

others completely ignore insulation until

forced to by a major project.

For a more detailed analysis of protection

of personnel from hot surfaces, I strongly

recommend that you read the McChesneys’

article (which, by the way, OSHA references

in its standards). You’ll have to go to your

local engineering library because it’s not

available online. Other useful references

include:

http://goo.gl/svGrns

http://goo.gl/mSYf5R

http://goo.gl/m9Na7k.

www.ChemicalProcessing.com

Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 13

http://www.pickheaters.com/chemical-pharmaceutical.html

I misread the drawings about pipe installa-

tion but at least had some good excuses.

It was 4 am. I had been sleeping in my

car for five days between meetings and my

nightshift duties as part of a reactor com-

missioning team. In addition, I’d recently

assumed the role of instrument engineer as

well as process engineer. While the design

team should have clearly marked the ori-

entation of the inlet and outlet connections

on the drawings, it was stretched thin. This

commissioning exercise was a catastrophe

— but that’s another story.

Pipe installation on jackets, coils, reactors

and heat exchangers is tricky. If you get it

wrong, you’ll have plenty of opportunity

to kick yourself while you’re pulling things

apart to re-do them right. Connections

generally are flanged, not threaded, to

avoid costly repairs when the threads are

stripped; the exception is sanitary connec-

tions, which usually are the male end of a

sanitary clamp.

Let’s start with the correct inlet and outlet

orientation for jackets and coils. (Coils

provide better heat transfer but are more

difficult to vent, drain and clean because

the flow often is down, around and then out

the same direction.) In a jacket or coil using

steam, the steam obviously goes in the top

nozzle while the outlet (for condensate)

goes at the bottom. Must-haves for a jacket

include a vent at the top and a drain at the

bottom. Extra nozzles help; split jackets may

require multiple nozzles. It doesn’t matter

if the unit sometimes uses steam and other

times chilled water: the inlet is at the top and

the outlet is at the bottom. However, using

Keep Cool Designing Heat Exchanger PipingConsider these points when working with exchangers, coils and jackets

By Dirk Willard, Contributing Editor

Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 15

www.ChemicalProcessing.com

separate nozzles for steam and chilled water

often makes sense. With steam condensate,

it’s critical that the outlet is the lowest point

— otherwise, expect problems from corro-

sion and fouling.

If the jacket serves exclusively for cooling,

then opt for a bottom inlet and top outlet.

Oil systems for jackets usually use a bottom

inlet and top outlet, too. (The reactor I was

commissioning used N2 and the correct ori-

entation was bottom inlet/top outlet.)

With heat exchangers, there really aren’t set

rules except for vertical evaporators and

condensers, in which gravity rules: liquids

drain at the bottom. Generally, as for jack-

ets, steam enters in the higher nozzle and

leaves (presumably as condensate) from

the lower nozzle.

Different guidelines apply to horizontal

thermosiphons: recirculating thermosiphons

— liquid (from the bottom of the tower) in

bottom, vapor plus liquid out top; once-

through thermosiphons — vapor plus liquid

(from the side of the tower basin) in from

bottom, liquid (at the side of the tower

basin) out the top.

Locating relief valves also can be tricky.

Position pressure safety valves (PSVs) and

vacuum vents at the top of the jacket or

coil — except when debris might collect at

the mouth of the device. Put relief devices

on heat exchangers as high as possible

to avoid liquid partial flow, which could

obstruct vapor flow. It’s generally assumed

that if a tube ruptures, this involves a small

hole causing flow into the shell; usually, only

the area of the tubing head cover — not the

cylinder — is considered in a fire.

Let’s now turn to pressure relief calcu-

lations. For fire, assume two phases for

liquid in a jacket, coil or exchanger tubing.

Thermal relief always is a concern with

liquids. One relief valve may suffice but if

there’s a possibility of fouling or isolation

of the PSV, then add as many relief devices

as necessary.

Note that rupture discs are a better choice

for high viscosity (>100 cP) oils. Some oils

are so slippery that PSVs will require elas-

tomer seals. It’s often sensible to upgrade

pipe flanges to a higher pressure rating to

add more bolts to the flange bolt circle.

Give special consideration to nozzle rein-

forcement to account for the thrust: wound

vessel sheets may be flimsy.

Mistakes in piping around heat exchangers

and jackets can cause serious problems in

operations and maintenance. Try to re-task

nozzles as much as possible to avoid adding

potential leak sources but make sure you

plan wisely during design.

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Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 16

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will arrive at a page with the winning

caption and all submissions for that

particular cartoon.

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Steam Systems eHANDBOOK: Put Steam Into Your Efforts 17